News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 701 - 725 of 6969
Electric City will change from hiring Grand Coulee’s police department to enforce law in its city to contracting with a city slightly further away — Coulee Dam — after reviewing proposals from both departments for future police services. Details are still being smoothed out following a Monday city council meeting in Coulee Dam in which council members asked for clarifications, but their consensus was to accept the agreement in principle after clarifications were made. The deal will require Coulee Dam’s two-man department to double personn...
School board members Monday night accepted new “tuition agreements” between districts that have already been doing for decades what the new contracts will make legal, in the eyes of federal regulators. Grand Coulee Dam School District directors voted to OK the so-called “tuition” pacts with Nespelem and Keller school districts, whose students eventually attend junior high and high school in Coulee Dam, bringing with them federal “Impact Aid” funds to help pay for it. Because those schools get paid at a higher rate than the Coulee Dam distric...
Give President Joe Biden some credit for mid-term election Democratic successes when most everyone, including the media, predicted otherwise. Instead of focusing on himself, he quietly avoided states where he’s unpopular and helped Democrats win Pennsylvania where he grew up and is still popular. He presented us with our country’s greatest challenge: to save our democracy from autocratic ambitions of the MAGA faction that dominates the Republican party. He inherited a mess and time spent cleaning it up detracted from time for positive acc...
A recent column on my motorcycle days put me in touch with one of the sons of my old friend Joe Emerson. Someone had sent him a copy of my comments about his dad and of our friendship while we were both living in Palouse. He said that his dad was in the Air Force, not the army, and that Joe was not a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes. I had misunderstood when Joe told me of his family’s property along the Columbia River when the dam backed up the water submerging the family home. Joe had said that his family was given land higher up f...
For decades, Central Washingtonians have had to fight to make our voices heard over the noise of outside interest groups and government bureaucrats who think they know what is best for our communities. Unfortunately, last week’s decision by the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reopen discussions on introducing grizzly bears, an apex predator, into the North Cascades Ecosystem proves that, once again, our voices are being ignored. The debate over grizzly bear introduction in Washington state is nothing new. In 1995, W...
The school levy was barely passing Tuesday night by a margin of just 1.38% of the 866 votes counted so far. The measure, which asked to replace the Grand Coulee Dam School District's current levies with one at half the combined rate of expiring levies, had slipped into the fail bracket by the slimmest of margins, two to five votes, in each of the four counties involved except Douglas, where it held a 23-vote favorable margin. Ballots could be postmarked by Tuesday, or inserted in a ballot drop...
Utility line crews in Okanogan County were still fixing outages from Monday's storm late Monday afternoon. In the immediate Grand Coulee Dam area, only a few flakes fluttered here and there, but a bit north it was a different story. Okanogan County reported at 10:38 a.m. Monday that electric utilities were experiencing small outages around the county, including Nespelem Valley Electric Cooperative. "It was the heavy, wet snow that was the culprit," NVEC General Manager Kevin Black said Tuesday as his linemen were finishing repairs near Bridgepo...
An Electric City couple pressed the city council Tuesday to start a discussion on the in-town deer population, which they said is now increasing and becoming a problem. Robbin and Carol Boyce said they’ve lived in the area since 1989 but never had problems with deer before 2010, and now it’s getting worse. Carol Boyce described problems with deer now ranging from her apparently tasty forsytvuhia bushes that are “just about toast” to an overly familiar buck who spooked her visiting adult granddaughter by coming too close behind her in the yar...
This week half the country will be upset by the midterm election results and half will be elated. Regardless, politics is causing every one of us more stress than it ought to, but, believe it or not, there is, hopefully, still some humor that we can all enjoy. Since Congress has a lower approval rating than polio, here are some fun lines to share: It’s so cold today, the congresswoman had her hands in her own pockets. The opposite of “pro” is “con,” so the opposite of progress is: Congress. Q: What did the corrupt congressman order for lunch...
Lowering our flags to half-staff is a solemn act that recognizes our fallen heroes, whether they be men and women in our armed forces or police officers killed in the line of duty. It is a vivid reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by those who serve us. Unfortunately, after those flags return to the top of the pole and time passes, we tend to forget that the suffering for the friends and families continues. The loneliness, financial stress, and emotional strain lives on. That is when those husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and parents need...
Lloyd Meeds represented Washington’s 2nd District in Congress for a number of years and was a frequent visitor to our newspaper in Bothell. He spent a lot of time in the district and would come by the paper for interviews and to report on what he was doing back in Washington. Quite often, his wife, Mary, would accompany him. I told the two, on one occasion, of my plan to travel to the far east, and they quickly suggested that I include Taiwan as one of the countries to visit. Mary Meeds was Chinese and a personal friend of Madame Chiang K...
Central Washington is lucky to be home to over 33,000 veterans. As our nation observes this upcoming Veterans Day, we reaffirm a solemn promise to remember and honor the men and women of the United States Armed Forces — past and present. Although Veterans Day was established to remember and revere the sacrifices of so many, our veterans deserve to know their country is looking after them and their families each and every day. I have spent much of my time in Congress meeting with veterans across Central Washington and learning about the i...
Lake Roosevelt High School postseason sports came to an end Friday night when the Raiders lost to Liberty High School's Lancers at Spangle, 15-6. That loss came a day after the Lady Raider volleyball team lost in Omak in their bid to advance past the District 6 semifinals in three sets to Manson on Thursday and in three sets to Okanogan on Saturday afternoon. They finished the season with a 10-8 record overall, 8-6 in league. Raider Coach Bubba Egbert was disappointed not to get to advance this...
Legendary Raider wrestling coach Steve Hood, who retired in 2019, is being inducted into the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Hood will be inducted into the hall of fame in Yakima on Nov. 5, and a community dinner will be held at the American Legion building in Electric City on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. That free dinner will include a main dish, and attendees are encouraged to bring sides, salads, and desserts for a potluck. More information can be found by...
A federal funding problem that could have cost the Grand Coulee Dam School District millions in future years, and several just past, has apparently been averted, Nespelem School District Superintendent Effie Dean said Monday. Federal authorities reviewing a practice the two districts have used for decades to share federal Impact Aid took exception to it last spring. The two districts, since 1995, have operated under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that some of the money from the federal Impact Aid program coming into Nespelem would be...
A Veterans Day assembly will be held at Lake Roosevelt on Nov. 10 from 9-10 a.m. in the high school gym, and veterans and their families are welcome to attend. Middle school and high school bands will be performing patriotic marches, and a slideshow will be presented showing veterans from the local area, their names, dates of service, and which branch of the military they served in. Further submissions for that will be accepted up until Nov. 8, band teacher Gabriel James said. "The more the...
“Police spoke to a man at Safeway who was reported as acting strangely and not speaking. The man did speak to police, saying he wanted a drink. Police told him he wasn’t welcome at the store, and then found that he was wanted on a felony warrant out of Okanogan County for assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, theft, and another assault charge. Officials in Okanogan were unable to speak to the officer, who was told to call back in 30 minutes. The officer found this to be an unreasonable amount of time to detain the man outside of Safeway, so...
Transitioning from military to civilian life can be challenging for veterans. As they contemplate what’s next on their career path, the answer may lie in a rural community. Returning veterans are a perfect fit for the next generation of rural small business owners, farmers or ranchers. Some, however, face challenges, including difficulty accessing capital and acquiring training. But with the help of programs offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), veterans can access the financial and educational resources they need to get a...
Demand for Electric Vehicles (EV) is soaring---accelerated by climate change concerns. EVs reduce tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks and buses which are responsible for 30 percent of our greenhouse gas pollutants. The switch to EVs is worldwide and growing. The Simply Insurance website projects that by 2040, 58 percent of global vehicle sales will be electric. In 2021, China’s EV sales jumped to 3.3 million. Chinese government officials told automakers that electric vehicles (EVs) will make up 40 percent of all sales (39.78 million) by 2...
Remember when our elected officials represented their constituents? That was before they found it better to represent themselves. Senators Warren Magnuson and Henry Jackson come to mind. Let me explain. When living in Bothell, I bought my youngest daughter a horse and kept it at a pasture nearby that was owned by a crusty old cowboy named Homer. I would go down and stand at the fence and watch the horse and chat with Homer. On one occasion, I met a local attorney who also had become friends with Homer, another cowboy of sorts. He told me that...
The Raiders shut out the Tonasket Tigers last week and are now moving onto their football postseason. In Coulee Dam Oct. 27, the Raiders defeated the Tigers 41-0. Quarterback Brit Egbert completed eight out of 15 passes for 124 yards, including two touchdowns, one to Chase Clark and one to Chase Marchand. Clark also ran for two touchdowns, Egbert ran for one, and Tanner Kiser ran one in as well. Kiser also led the defense in tackles with four tackles and an assisted tackle. Next for LR is the Di...
My ballot for the November 8 election came Friday and is now completed, waiting to be dropped back into the mail. We're fortunate it's so easy here to contribute to the success of our community by voting. This election's school levy request is especially important to keep providing for our local kids' education needs. If the pared-down levy (half the levy we've been paying) passes, GCD School District will receive substantial matching dollars from the state to support athletics, Drivers Education, Special Education, technology classes, and...
I have worked in some form of law enforcement in Okanogan County for 31 years having started in Winthrop. The last 3 years have been a rollercoaster ride with COVID and the negative changes in the laws that were passed in WA State. Sheriff Hawley has made his way through unprecedented times and has succeeded, with more hard work to come. His education and experience have all been in the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office and living in Okanogan County which makes him the best choice. He has gone from Corrections Officer to Deputy then Sergeant a...
A tragedy that unfolded in Keller Thursday quickly spread to Nespelem as police searched through the night for suspects in the killing of two people and the shooting of a police officer in Keller. As police from agencies far and near answered a call not heard by residents listening to scanners for clues about what was happening, Colville Tribal Emergency Services posted a warning on Facebook about 7 p.m. asking Nespelem residents to stay in their homes. The mayor also issued that plea and added...
The Bonneville Power Administration is in negotiations to take over three switchyards in the Grand Coulee area. “The Bonneville Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation are negotiating the transfer of ownership, operations and maintenance of three Grand Coulee switchyards and the associated switch gear from Reclamation to BPA,” reads a joint statement from the two agencies in response to a Star inquiry. “The agencies have drafted multiple Memoranda of Understanding that will facilitate the transfer,” the statement continues. “It is im...